Verizon has decided to join the ranks of AT&T and Sprint by assessing a $30 upgrade fee for current customers getting a new phone. If you don't love the idea of paying for something entirely arbitrary, Ben Popken, writing for personal finance blog SmartMoney, knows how to get out of it. Among many suggestions, here's the best:

There is one one foolproof method I found for avoiding Verizon's new $30 upgrade fee: buy your new phone from someone other than Verizon on eBay for instance. Then you can add the phone to your account, sans upgrade fee. Because you're already a Verizon customer, there's no activation fee. Success — that is, if you can find a phone cheaper than Verizon's discounted rate. This method also works for avoiding upgrade fees at other carriers as well.

Ben also suggests a few number porting tricks, phone trade-ins to offset the cost, and a few other options. Ultimately there is no perfect method and you'll be doing a bit of work to avoid paying $30. Many people will prefer to just suck it up and eat the fee. Nonetheless, if you're adverse to handing over more of your hard-earned money to Verizon for no particular reason, hit up SmartMoney for your many options.